Category Archives: Artifacts and Archives

Blog posts include anything that involves items from the artifact and/or archives collection of the Historical Society.

New Acquisition

Barbert sketch of View from Chestnut hill

This Litchfield Historical Society is pleased to announce the acquisition of the original sketch of the South East View from Chestnut Hill by John Warner Barber.

The drawing was discovered in an antique shop in Stonington, CT by a friend of the museum.  The staff quickly jumped into action and contacted the antique shop owner.  He was thrilled the museum was interested and the transaction was quickly finalized.

John Warner Barber (1798-1885) was born in East Windsor, CT.  He learned the art of printmaking and opened his own business in New Haven, CT.  He is most noted for his engravings of Connecticut towns.  These were compiled into a book by Barber in 1837  called Connecticut Historical Collections. The book sold 7,000 copies in its first year even though it cost three dollars, then an average weeks pay.

Barber started with rough pencil sketches and developed them into more detailed wash drawings. He then transferred the drawings directly to small blocks of boxwood on which he engraved the designs.

View from Chestnut Hill (2)

Above is the published engraving of his original pencil drawing.   It is often thought Barber inserted himself into his prints.  The gentleman in the foreground of the completed print is thought to be Barber.

The Litchfield Historical Society is thrilled to add this rare piece of material culture to the museum’s permanent collection.

Western Union

James P. Woodruff to Lillian C. Bell

James P. Woodruff to Lillian C. Bell

Telegrams may be a thing of the past, but they appear in our present with some regularity.  While accessioning[i] a new donation I came across this gem.

If you are having trouble with the script, it is from James Parsons Woodruff to Lillian Churchill Bell dated one day prior to their wedding date.  It says:

“Have started wait for me don’t take the best man.”  For more about J.P. Woodruff, see this entry in Taylor’s Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut 190-.


[i] Accessioning is the process by which a donation is formally added to the collection.

An Intern’s Experience

My name is Emilie Kracen and this summer I have had the opportunity to intern at the Litchfield Historical Society under archivist Linda Hocking.  Today being my last day with the Historical Society, I have decided to write a post to tell you a little about what I did here.

My main task has been to process collections and create online finding aids for them on Archon.    The process begins with the raw collections in the state in which they arrived at the archives, in little or no order.  I started by reading through most of the documents and organizing them so they are easy to use.  Creating the finding aid was an interesting task, as I was forced to think like a researcher and create descriptions that would illustrate the important aspects of the collection while helping the reader determine if the documents would be of use in their investigation.  Since Archon is essentially an online, searchable card catalogue, I tried to keep in mind specific search terms that would lead researchers to the correct collections.  The process would have been simple, but for a new version of Archon and various updates which took place during the summer, giving those working with the program a crash course in re-learning how to navigate the site!

The most interesting and rewarding part of the process was handling and reading the actual documents.  I am a historic preservation major, and I plan to attain a museum studies minor and pursue a career in artifact conservation.  Working with the old documents, and even the newer ones, gave me more insight into this aspect of the museum field.  The first collection I worked on was the Grant Papers, dated in the mid-nineteenth century, and the documents were somewhat damaged and very fragile.  I felt privileged to be able to work with the documents first-hand, since after the processing much of the physical collection will be off-limits to researchers due to fragility.  It is exciting to be able to handle objects that people who lived decades or centuries ago used every day!  I also learned some basic and valuable conservation techniques along the way.  For example, I learned that simple objects like newspapers (which are very acidic), paper clips, tape, and staples can, over the years, cause damage to the documents around them.

The content in the collections was very interesting as well.  The letters in the Grant collection, for example, give a very detailed and fascinating account of a traveling teacher/preacher, including a fair amount of culture shock when he moved from the relatively small New England town of Litchfield to pre-Civil War Virginia.  The second collection I worked with, the Captain H. S. Jones Collection, included information on the creation of the historic district in Litchfield.  As a historic preservation major, it was interesting to read through the struggles of launching a historic district in an area where none previously existed.

Finally, I enjoyed researching the creators and creating biographies of them, putting together in one place the various pieces of information, including my own findings from the collections themselves.  My research skills were improved, and even though scrolling through reels of microfilm for an obituary or a marriage announcement was tedious at times, it was exciting when I would stumble upon the very information I was looking for and add it to a more complete account of the lives of these historic figures.

Overall, my work at the Historical Society has been fun and rewarding, giving me an up-close and personal look at the workings of a small museum.

Western Reserve Collections Open!

Lewis B. Woodruff Map of the United States, 1820

Lewis B. Woodruff Map of the United States, 1820

The Historical Society recently purchased the papers of New York City banker and businessman Samuel Flewwelling (1774 or 5-1849) primarily relating to property held by his wife, Julia Elvira Canfield Flewwelling (1791-1868), and him in the Western Reserve, later Ohio. Following Samuel’s death, the properties were managed by William Mackay (1795-1873), a New York City businessman and the husband of Caroline Emma Canfield Mackay. The collections includes indentures, agreements, leases, deeds, statements and accounts, and correspondence.The papers are arranged chronologically in one series and consist mostly of documents concerning the conveyance land in the Western Reserve. The earliest document outlines the partitioning of land Judson Canfield and others purchased from the Connecticut Land Co. in 1799. Flewwelling acquired land from Canfield as early as 1815. Some of the later sales were among members of Flewwelling’s family, including his father-in-law Judson Canfield, his brother-in-law Henry J. Canfield, and his brother- and sister-in-law Frederick Augustus Tallmadge and Elizabeth Canfield Tallmadge. Flewwelling provided mortgages to some of the purchasers of land, and the agreements contained in the papers spell out the payment terms. The finding aid, completed by Leith Johnson, is already available online.
Johnson also completed the finding aid for a related collection, the papers of Judson Canfield. The collection consists primarily of legal documents, including agreements, deeds, executions, receipts, statements, and correspondence. The papers also include a small collection of correspondence and writings relating to Walter Ferriss, whose daughter married Canfield’s son.
The study of Connecticut’s participation in settling the Western Reserve lands will certainly be enriched by access to these collections.

Civic Records

The Historical Society is pleased to announce the acquisition of several important collections of civic records. St. Paul’s Masonic Lodge, the Litchfield Garden Club, and the Litchfield County University Club have all voted to donate their records to the Society.

The records of St. Paul’s Lodge and the Litchfield Garden Club have been on deposit since the 1970s, and a collection of books once used by the Lodge as a lending library have been on loan since approximately 1906. The Litchfield County University Club, founded in 1896, recently located several scrapbooks of records dating to the earliest days of the Club. One of the club’s first vice presidents was George C. Woodruff of Litchfield, whose papers are in the Society’s collection.

If you are a member of a civic group whose records we have yet to document please consider donating your materials. If you would like to discuss it with the archivist, call Linda Hocking at 860-567-4501 or e-mail archivist@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.